Re: distributions: UBUNTU vs DEBIAN
On Thu, Apr 20, 2006 at 08:10:36AM -0400, Attila Horvath wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Apr 2006, mutsuura@mutsuura.com wrote:
> > Have you tried searching the list archives? There is already a lot of
> > coverage for this set of questions. Also, your subject-line is very
> > likely to provoke a flamewar.
> My question was/is genuine. It's not my intention to start a flamewar.
> However, I will search thru the archives for past opinions/suggestions. I
> apprecaite your response.
>
> I am new to LINUX and somewhat dismaid/confused about the various
> distributions. I'd like to set up a LINUX-based server for mail, web,
> personal commerce, etc. Since this is for personal purposes, I decided on
> LINUX based system because [1]it's free and [2]my perceived notion that
> it's more stable than windows environment.
>
> Being new to LINUX, a GUI-based system like GNOME adds some convenience
> but ultimately is not necessary. BASH command line-based system is
> sufficient. I [initially] chose UNBUNTU simply because it was handed to me
> to try out. After a couple of weeks of playing around, I discovered a
> wealth of information as well as 'choices'.
>
> Attila
I think chris roddy's reply gives a fairly good summary of the technical
differences.
My personal experience has been that it us much easier and faster to get
a workable system installed using Ubuntu, but Debian is the more versatile
once you have spent the time getting it setup correctly.
Ubuntu is certainly much better at providing a quick indication of how
well supported your hardware is.
I have both installed on my notebook currently. Ubuntu installed very easily,
although didn't manage to get Xorg configured optimally. Debian's installer
did not detect my CD-ROM drive till I moved to the latest testing installer,
and used a problem workaround from the web site. When the install completed I
still had to manually configure and install the X system before I had a
workable X server, but now it is working even better than the Ubuntu
installed server. Ubuntu configured and used my wireless interface correctly
during install, but Debian don't support using it for installation, and the
installation does not install what is needed because of licensing/openness
concerns. Having gone to the Intel web site and downloaded the firmware
manuall, it now works. But as a user this is an inconvenience - I don't
think many people are going to decide not to use some key piece of hardware
on their computer even though a driver is available, purely on the grounds of
open source philosophy. And once you have bought the machine, it is no skin
off the manufacturers nose either way.
Consequently I think Debian's more restrictive policy on hardware support
during and after installation is a disadvantage. By all means give preference
to free and open software where there are alternatives, but the time to worry
about the open source friendlyness of the hardware is when making the original
purchase, not during the install.
I think I will keep both OSs side by side for a while, at least until I
have Debian configured as a strict superset of what Ubuntu could do out
of the box. If I share the common directories (home, tmp, swap etc) it
should only cost me about an extra 3GB (5%) of my disk space to have
the choice.
Regards,
DigbyT
--
Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com
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